Tag Archives: Islam

THE latest church bombings in Indonesia show the same trademark of fear that gripped the country almost a generation ago, and now once again threatens Christians, many of whom are from the ethnic Chinese minority, and make up about nine per cent of Indonesia’s 260 million people. Wind the clock back to Christmas Eve 2000. Orchestrated attacks on churches in ... Read More »

AN Iraqi-born priest who was kidnapped and tortured by Islamic extremists for nine days says Australia is seen as “the promise land” for thousands of Christians still suffering from genocide in the Middle East. Bagdhad-born Fr Douglas Bazi of the Chaldean Catholic Church told The Catholic Leader that Australia was leading the way in welcoming thousands of Christians forced to ... Read More »

COMMUNITY tensions over plans to build an Islamic centre in Gladstone are fuelled by “unreal fears”, a Church expert on Christian-Muslim relations says. Sydney’s Centre for Christian-Muslim Relations co-ordinator of Columban Father Patrick McInerney is regularly called upon to address religious and cultural concerns that increasingly confront Australian towns and city communities. In Gladstone, anti-Muslim sentiments are being voiced after ... Read More »

ONE of Gladstone’s Catholic priests has lent support to a bid to build an Islamic centre in the central Queensland town, despite an anti-Muslim campaign. “I’m absolutely in support of them being able to worship as easily as I do,” Star of the Sea parish priest Marist Father Kevin Redmond said. The Islamic Society of Gladstone has lodged a development ... Read More »

CATHOLICS in Iraq are defying Daesh (Islamic State), not with weapons or violence but with education and learning – and Australian Catholic University is standing with them. Archbishop Bashar Warda of Erbil, in Kurdish northern Iraq, was a guest at the International Federation of Catholic Universities 25th General Assembly in Melbourne earlier this month where he sought help from delegates. ... Read More »

PRAYING for victims of violent protests and targeted attacks against the Church in Niger, Pope Francis said no war can ever be waged in God’s name. He asked that the Lord grant “the gift of reconciliation and peace so that religious feelings never become an occasion for violence, suppression and destruction”, he said yesterday (January 21) at the end of ... Read More »

The Catholic Loop – Today’s news headlines for the busy Catholic | January 20, 2015 Pope Francis reaffirmed the Church’s teaching on contraception and marriage in interviews, speeches and Homilies from his visit to the Philippines. Thousands marched through Los Angeles to speak up about the dignity of human life, including Hollywood actor and director Eduardo Verastegui. Iraq’s prelate has ... Read More »

The Catholic Loop – Today’s news headlines for the busy Catholic | January 09, 2015. Pope Francis offered his Thursday morning Mass to victims of the Paris attack and “for the perpetrators of such cruelty, that the Lord will change their hearts”. Meanwhile, Australian Catholic University adjunct professor Julian Burnside, Catholic radio host Patrick Madrid and blogger Matt Walsh shared their ... Read More »

CATHOLIC, Anglican, Sunni and Shiite leaders vowed to do all they can to combat “ugly and hideous” distortions of religion, and to involve more women – often the first victims of violence – in official inter-religious dialogues. Holding the third Christian-Muslim Summit in Rome on December 2-4, the leaders said that while more and more women were involved in high-level ... Read More »